Graduation Sunday
June 5th, 2005
Perfect Peace
Every year this Sunday seems to sneak up on me faster and faster. It seems as though we have our school kick-off and welcome a new group of seniors and in the blink of an eye we’re sending them off in this service. Every class that I have had the privilege of working with has been unique and special in different ways and for different reasons. This year’s class is no exception. These teens you see seated out front, many of them were in our junior high youth group when I got here, some have been added over the years as their families began to attend here, but each one has had an impact on the ministry of this church. Many have served in the youth ministry, many have served with children’s classes or VBS, or in the sound room with lights or video. I look at this class and I see a strong group of leaders and servants who will be missed greatly. It has been fun watching them grow from annoying little kids who would constantly steal my hats and who usually didn’t smell all that good, to young men and women that any parent or youth pastor would be proud to claim. Parents, thank you for getting them to this point, and thank you for allowing myself and my youth staff the opportunities that we’ve had to work with your teens, to teach them, hang out with them, get to know them, and to love them.
Every year I begin just after Christmas to try and find the perfect verse that sums up my thoughts and prayers for my class of Graduating Seniors. I look at graduation cards and in graduation books and keep an eye out in my devotional time to find that verse that will allow me to get my point across, a promise from God that these teens can take with them as they leave this place.
As I was reading several weeks ago, this verse jumped out at me. When I think of the one thing that will benefit you most over your lifetime and in the coming years, it is summed up in the words of Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3.
You (God) will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you.
Perfect peace.
That is my prayer for each of your lives, that you would know peace. That your lives would be marked with the peace that comes from God. As Christians, over and over again in Scripture we are called and commanded to be a people of peace.
Sunset. It had been a long time since I had had such a peaceful moment, but God’s peace is so much more, it is peace for a lifetime with no end. What could be more desirable in the life of a believer than that kind of peace. In this world we live in and the worlds you are about to enter in college or in the work force, chaos is the order of the day. People try and cram their lives so full of stuff and to keep themselves so busy that few find peace and even fewer God’s peace.
What is peace? Peace is security and order in life, it’s an inner contentment that is not dependant or contingent upon the circumstances that we find ourselves in at the moment but rather it is based on what we know happened for us many years ago on a cross.
ISA 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
A price was paid, a ransom delivered, and your freedom was purchased, it’s this freedom that gives us the peace God promises. Because we know that whatever happens, whatever we go through, God is in control and our future is certain and secure. I want you to believe that with all of your hearts and experience God’d peace in your life!
Your parents have taught you about this peace and it is the greatest gift they ever could have given to you because this is something that can never be taken from you.
Perfect peace does not exist apart from God.
Jn 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
It is not a feeling that comes and goes or an idea that fades over time. Only God can provide you with the security and confidence that comes from knowing who you are and whose you are. Many enter college to find the meaning of life, to find what they want to live for that will validate their existence, they go to find that one thing, person, cause, or idea that will give their heart the peace they are searching for. The world offers many distractions that promise peace but none delivers. What an advantage in life you have that as you enter this stage of your life, this transition, this time of growth and learning, that you already know the answer so many of these people are looking for. You head out into life already equipped with the reason for your existence and the peace that comes from knowing your eternity is secure. What an advantage, and what a responsibility because others need this peace you have.
Now, God promises peace. He promises it in fullness and in abundance, but He also asks for us to do our part. It takes discipline on our part and a willingness to work on a relationship with our Creator that can so easily take a backseat to other things in our lives. We are told in this verse that peace comes to those who do two things.
1) Trust God
The first thing that they do is they Trust God. Now, last year this was one of my points in the graduation sermon as well and as long as I keep preaching for graduation Sunday, this will be somewhere in my message because in order for your Christianity to survive apart from the support system you have in your lives now, you have to learn to trust.
Trust, like peace, is a concept that has been skewed by this world. We are taught, often by being let down, that we can’t really trust anyone. So, for us to trust a God that we can neither see nor touch is not natural for us, it takes a great deal of faith. Our trust is something that we guard, it’s often something that’s misplaced and abused by others, but God is calling us to trust the only one who is worthy of our complete trust and who is trustworthy enough that we can surrender our very will, our very lives to him. He is incapable if letting us down or failing to deliver on a promise he gives us in his word.
God promises much to those who trust You will:
- never be forsaken
- rise up and stand firm
- Your righteousness will shine like the sun
- You can not be shaken
- God will direct your paths
- God will care for you
- Christ will return for you
- Your home in Heaven is being prepared.
- God will give you peace
Trust may not come easy for you but the benefits that God provides to those who place their trust in Him cannot be found anywhere else.
Me and my Dad at the Docks.
This story proves that I’ve never been particularly bright! But it also illustrates beautifully the trust I placed in my father.
God rewards the faith of those who are willing to jump in with both feet and trust that God is big enough to catch them and to hold them even if it feels like you’re going under. He will keep you above the surface and give you an abundant and exciting life with Him.
Trust Him with the choices and decisions you have coming up in your life. With your major, with your career, with your relationships and your mate. I have met people that will marry someone that they know is wrong for them simply because they are afraid of being alone! There are some of you that have not gone three weeks without a boyfriend or girlfriend since I’ve known you! Be patient and wait for God to bring the right person into your life that he created and designed to compliment you just perfectly. Don’t settle for anything less than what God has for you, Trust Him.
2) Fix your thoughts on God
We are also told that God’s peace comes to those whose focus stays on Christ.
We are commanded in Colossians to:
COL 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
We are to set our hearts and minds, like concrete, that once it’s set it can’t be moved.
We are to focus on the things of God, on his ways, his will, and his commands and not be distracted by the things that Satan would use to distract us and take us away from where God is leading us. Think of all the things in your life that can be a distraction. Think of the times where little things have kept you from growing in Christ. We walk through life and our tendency is to look all around us and to chase after the things that catch our eye while Christ is standing before us saying “look at me, look at me, I’ll get you where you need to go, just look at me, focus on me.” I remember the first time I was in a service where Yogi whistled and said “look at me.” I about jumped out of my skin! He was trying to keep his congregation focused and away from distraction. What I didn’t realize is that, no matter how shrill and annoying the whistle can be, Yogi is actually being very Godly and Christ-like. He is demanding your attention and while Christ tends to use a still small voice, the message is the same. Eyes to the front, watch me, listen to me, follow me. We are to be singleminded.
I have been singleminded about different things at different times of my life. When I was young, I ate, drank, and slept baseball. I played it, I watched it, I read the box scores, I collected the cards, I was consumed by it. Then I discovered girls. I remember my first real crush in Jr. High. All day all I could do was think about her, I would write letters to her (and then throw them out) I had her name scribbled all over my folders. I would even write her name with my last name, I had it bad. As I’ve grown and matured somewhat, my understanding of God’s call and command has lead me to place that same kind of passion and desire and focus on Him and on His commands and the call he has for my life.
When we fix our thoughts on God, many things will happen in our lives. I want to mention two big ones this morning.
1) Desire to Obey.
When we focus on Christ, his commands and call on our life will take on a new importance and our passion and desire in life will be to serve him. Be very careful, freedom is a great temptation. You’ve all heard the stats on the number of teens who leave the church after high school, most of you would sit here and say that won’t be me. But the reality is that many teens walk into the freedom the next few years will bring, unprepared and the distractions and temptations prove to be too much and our focus wavers and then crashes. I can remember waking up that first Sunday morning of College and realizing that I didn’t have to get up and go to church if I didn’t want to. We used to call it bedside Baptist church.
You will be in new situations, with new people, and without your parents or pastors looking over your shoulder. If your thoughts are fixed on God then the desire to follow and obey will show itself in your life and keep you from many of the distractions that can destroy your walk with God. Obey by:
- Plug into a local church and serve the body of Christ.
- Find other Christians that can Hold you accountable
- Learn to study God’s word and spend quality time with him, which is the second thing that will happen when we focus on God.
2) Longing to Spend time with God
Erin and I in our dating life.
I did everything I could to spend time with her. It wasn’t an afterthought or something I squeezed in, I shaped my days around time with her. Fix your thoughts on God and you will find yourself longing to be in His presence. Make spending time with Him your priority and he will change your life.
God will give you peace, a peace that is beyond comprehension if you learn to trust and learn to focus on God.
He has a plan for you, hear me when I say this it is not just cliché, it is the promise of God. He has a plan for you and you will never find as much joy and fulfillment as you will when you are in the center of His will for your life.
You (God) will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you.
That is my prayer for your lives that you come to have the peace God is holding out to you.
And as Hebrews 13:20 says:
HEB 13:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
